GOAL members will recall that
several weeks ago the Governor attempted to do away with the written
notification of license expirations (see Governor's Budget Item Alert).
When one of our members contacted the Governor's office to express his concern
on the matter, he was sent a letter with a response. The letter stated, "Mail
notification cost the state approximately $40,000 per year in postage and
producing the physical notification cards. That expense is funded from the
General Fund, not the license fees which go to various state and local funds to
promote safety and awareness."

This response is of great concern to
GOAL since $50 of each $100 license fee, by law, goes to the General Fund.
GOAL has sent the following letter to the Governor, asking him to explain where
the licensing fees are going and for information regarding the "safety and
awareness programs".

Dear Governor,

Recently, a GOAL member had contacted your office to
express his concerns over your proposal to do away with written notification of
expiring Licenses to Carry a Firearm and Firearm Identification Cards (outside
budget sections 31 and 32). The letter sent out by your staff in response has me
greatly concerned.

In the letter, your aide states that sending out
notification cards costs the state approximately $40,000 per year. He also
states “That expense is funded from the General Fund, not the license fees which
go to various state and local funds to promote safety and awareness programs.”

According to Chapter 140 of the Massachusetts General Laws
(see text below), the General Fund receives $50 of every $100 firearms license
application fee. There are approximately 270,000 licenses and cards issued by
the state that must be renewed every six years. Most of these renewals are
spread out through these years according to the original date of issue. The
renewal fees generate about $27,000,000 to be split as the law mandates. These
figures should roughly equate to over $2,000,000 a year being deposited into the
General Fund by license application fees. This being the case, the state should
have more than enough money to conduct the notifications now mandated by state
law with $1,960,000.00 to spare.

That leads us to raise an important question. The Supreme
Judicial Court (SJC) of Massachusetts ruled that “taxing” for services or rights
is illegal (see Emerson College v. City of Boston). In this decision, the
court ruled that a fee must be based on services performed or delivered.
Accordingly, it would be against the law to use the license fees for anything
other than to provide a service to the license holders. With this in mind, could
your office please inform GOAL what services are being provided to the license
holders with the remaining $1,960,000.00 a year?

Your aide also speaks of “state and local funds to promote
safety and awareness programs.” There is no such mention of these funds in the
state law nor has GOAL ever heard of any of these programs. Could your office
please supply us with information about these funds and programs? Also, if such
programs provide grants, would organizations such as GOAL, which
trains hundreds of State Police certified instructors and citizens in firearms
safety each year, be eligible for funding?

We look forward to hearing back from your office on this
matter.

Chapter 140, Section 129B (9A) - Except as provided in
clause (9B), the fee for an application for a firearm identification card shall
be $100, which shall be payable to the licensing authority and shall not be
prorated or refunded in the case of revocation or denial. The licensing
authority shall retain $25 of the fee; $50 of the fee shall be deposited in the
General Fund; and $25 of the fee shall be deposited in the Firearms Fingerprint
Identity Verification Trust Fund. Notwithstanding any general or special law to
the contrary, licensing authorities shall deposit quarterly that portion of the
firearm identification card application fee which is to be deposited into the
General Fund, not later than January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 of each
year.

Chapter 140, Section 131 (i) - The fee for the
application shall be $100, which shall be payable to the licensing authority and
shall not be prorated or refunded in case of revocation or denial. The licensing
authority shall retain $25 of the fee; $50 of the fee shall be deposited into
the general fund of the commonwealth and not less than $50,000 of the funds
deposited into the General Fund shall be allocated to the Firearm Licensing
Review Board, established in section 130B, for its operations and that any funds
not expended by said board for its operations shall revert back to the General
Fund; and $25 of the fee shall be deposited in the Firearms Fingerprint Identity
Verification Trust Fund.